Dynamic reactive system and method to support and change sitting postures

The present disclosure generally relates to dynamic mechanical systems to support a sitting posture of a user, and more specifically to dynamic and proactive systems for supporting sitting while enabling changing sitting postures in various manners, and method of operation thereof.

Nowadays, in the United States about 20% of the population and about 17% of the population are women and men with disabilities, respectively. Many of the disabled use wheelchairs to assist them in transporting themselves from one place to another, and even around their homes. Various medical conditions may lead a person or child to use a wheelchair, for example, cerebral palsy, head injuries, spinal injuries, degenerative muscle diseases, stroke and other syndromes that cause physical and motion disabilities.

People with disabilities using wheelchairs spend most of the day sitting in their wheelchairs. Sitting for a long period of time without changing positions over time may slowly and systematically cause changes and distortions of the human body, affect function of inner systems of the body, e.g., the gastrointestinal system, and may even cause death. Thus, not only that a person suffers from his physical disability, he may further suffer from secondary implications caused by lengthily sitting in his wheelchair.

For the disabled population, once a wheelchair is properly fitted to each disabled person's body measures, that person may conduct a fairly reasonable lifestyle. However, properly fitting a wheelchair is not enough since the majority of wheelchairs do not provide the ability to change sitting positions or postures. That means the disabled person is not only confined within the wheelchair but that he is also limited to one sitting posture only, which is typically passive. In order to ease the pressure on the pelvis during long sitting, some wheelchairs have been developed that change the angle in which the person is seated, for example, allowing a tilt or recline, however, these new positions or postures do not change the sitting position itself and do not enable movement of the limbs or muscles. Reclining reduces pressure from the pelvis and thighs but it is not a sitting position that allows muscle work of the upper back and head, which means it is not efficient enough per proper muscle exercise. Another wheelchair that is supposed to positively affect the blood flow and accordingly reduce edema includes a mechanism with liftable kickstands. However, this solution does not provide moving the joints and lifting the patient's feet above the heart, which are required in order to actually reduce edema.

Furthermore, nowadays, with the Sedentary Lifestyle many people experience in their work place, which means sitting long hours in front of their computer without moving around much, such people may experience various medical problems, such as skeletal problems as prolapsed disc, and weakening of the muscles.

There is therefore a need for a sitting system, e.g., wheelchair or chair that prevents the side effects of staying in a sitting position for long periods of time for the disabled as well as the non-disabled who work in a sitting environment.

According to embodiments of the disclosure, there is provided a sophisticated robotic dynamic and proactive system, which may be a part of a wheelchair or chair, and may move its parts such to cause a change in sitting positions, for example, a partially standing position, a saddle sitting position which may include movement of the sitting person's thighs, and so on for moving additional body parts of a user. The dynamic system that supports sitting while enabling changing positions of the sitting user as described in the present disclosure, may change positions of the user as closely as possible to the natural human movement. In addition, the system is proactive since it causes the seated user to be dynamic by moving the user while causing the user to sit differently at various times for certain periods of time, thereby forcing the user to activate different muscle groups and joints during such changes in sitting postures of the system.

According to some embodiments, the dynamic proactive system may further comprise a software to easily operate the various position changes of the user, while considering measurements of different sensors that may be used to monitor forces and pressures applied by the system onto the user, as well as taking into consideration physiological sensors that may be used to determine a certain motion required by the user. The operating software may create repetitive motion patterns that are selected per user, in order to best improve each user's physical capabilities, e.g., improve each user's movement range based on previous measurements of each user's movement range and the required position changes that would be suitable to improve previous measurements.

As explained hereinabove, sitting for long periods of time has a negative effect of various body functions. Thus, using the dynamic proactive system of the present disclosure which changes the sitting positions of a user may lead the user to be more active by using various muscle groups, and by positively affecting physiological functions, such as breathing, digestion, urine, metabolism, etc., in addition to the positive affect on better attentiveness and alertness of the user when the user is completing tasks.

A dynamic and proactive system such as a wheelchair that changes sitting positions of a user, measures and dynamically reacts to the user's state may further reduce expected treatment costs of the disabled population, as less surgeries would be required and less pressure sores would develop during the long sitting hours, since sitting would now become dynamic instead of static.

According to embodiments of the disclosure, there is provided a dynamic system for supporting sitting while changing sitting postures of a user, the system may comprise:

Optionally, the system may be configured to enable two or three-dimensional movement of different body parts of the user.

Optionally, the system further comprises at least one motor connected to the plurality of supports for moving the plurality of supports; and a controller configured to control operation of the at least one motor, thereby controlling movement of each one of the plurality of supports with respect to the frame or with respect to another support, thus enabling any changes in sitting postures of the user.

Optionally, the plurality of supports are selected from a group consisting of: back support, lower back support, upper back support, thigh support, foot rest, knee support, chest support, seat, elbow support, hand support, shoulder support, neck support, or any combination thereof.

Optionally, the at least one motor is an electrical motor or a manually operated motor or a hydraulic motor or a pneumatic motor.

Optionally, the controller is a computer or microcomputer operated controller or a manually operated controller. Optionally, the controller controls changes in sitting postures of the user based on a predefined protocol.

Optionally, the predefined protocol comprises predefined repeating sequences of different changes in postures of the user.

Optionally, the controller controls changes in sitting postures of the user in a one-time manual control manner.

Optionally, the position of each support of the plurality of supports with respect to another support or with respect to the frame is adjusted according to the physical dimensions of the user.

Optionally, the system comprises system sensors for measuring forces and pressures applied on the user by the system or on the system by the user, wherein the system is configured to apply an algorithm for reporting and changing sitting postures of the user based on measurements of the system sensors.

Optionally, the system sensors may be located along the plurality of supports of the system, between the plurality of supports or along the plurality of joints.

Optionally, the system sensors comprise body contact pressure sensors, force sensors or both. Optionally, the system sensors may comprise angle system sensors for measuring the angular position of a sitting user, with respect to seat position, back position, arms and legs position, etc., in either the system's coordinates or the world coordinates, while the angle system sensors may be located on one or more of the supports of the system. Optionally, the system sensors may comprise accelerometer system sensors for measuring the dynamic movement of the sitting user in real time. The accelerometer sensor may measure real time dynamic movement in one, two or three dimensions. The system may further comprise a timer for measuring the time a user is kept at a certain position within the system, and for measuring time between changes of positions.

Optionally, the system comprises physiological sensors for measuring physiological parameters of the user, wherein the system is configured to apply an algorithm for reporting and changing sitting postures of the user based on measurements of the physiological sensors.

Optionally, the physiological sensors are selected from a group consisting of: pulse sensors, body temperature sensors, blood pressure sensors, oximeter sensors, E.M.G. sensors, eye movement sensors, facial expression analyzer and any combination thereof.

Optionally, the controller learns the postures or positions that a user is at, for example, based on data collected by the various sensors of the system, e.g., by measuring pressure applied onto the various supports via corresponding pressure sensors attached onto the supports. For example, a high pressure sensed by a pressure sensor may be translated to a corresponding support which the user is substantially leaning onto, whereas little or no pressure sensed by a pressure sensor may be translated to a corresponding support which the user is less to not leaning onto, thereby the controller and system may determine current postures of the user. The controller may learn common or any postures of the user and may recommend posture changes accordingly such to cause the user to strengthen core muscles and improve length and flexibility of muscles, ligaments and tendons of the user.

Optionally, the system is used for maintaining length and flexibility of muscles, ligaments and tendons of the user and flexibility of joints of the user, thereby presumably avoiding surgery to accomplish same.

Optionally, the system is used for avoiding medical complications of sedentary lifestyle.

Optionally, the system is configured to change sitting postures of the user in a two-dimensional movement or in a two or three-dimensional movement, the two-dimensional movement comprises flexing or extending joints of lower body part of a user and abducting or adducting joints of lower body part of a user, and the two or three-dimensional movement comprises rotating joints of lower body part of a user.

Optionally, the movement of each support of the plurality of supports is independent from movement of any other support.

Optionally, each one of the plurality of supports is able to move while another different support rests or moves at a different angle or position.

Optionally, movement of a first support of the plurality of supports is symmetrical or asymmetrical to movement of a second support of the plurality of supports, the first and second supports being supports of symmetrical body parts.

Optionally, the system is configured to enable rotation of neck, shoulders, elbows and vertebras above the pelvis of the user.

Optionally, the system is a standalone wheelchair.

Optionally, the system is incorporated into a wheelchair by replacing the sitting system of the manually operated or powered wheelchair.

Optionally, the system is incorporated into an office chair, a vehicle seat or any other sitting system.

Optionally, the system comprises an application through which an operator controls the system.

Optionally, the system is configured to change posture of the user to a saddle posture.

Optionally, the system comprises elongated thigh supports configured to support each thigh and pelvis of the user.

Optionally, the system comprises chest supports providing solid support from chest to pelvis of the user to enable upright sitting within the system thereby avoiding movement of the upper body part while enabling movement of the lower body part. The chest supports may be configured to be adjusted per physical parameters of each user with respect to height and width of the chest supports.

According to embodiments of the disclosure, there is provided a method for changing sitting postures of a user, the method comprising:

Optionally, the controlling operation may comprise controlling two or three-dimensional movement of different body parts of the user.

In some embodiments, the two-dimensional movement may comprise flexing or extending joints of lower body part of a user and abducting or adducting joints of lower body part of a user, and the two or three-dimensional movement may comprise rotating joints of lower body part of a user.

Optionally, the controller operation may comprise learning and determining the postures or positions that a user is at, for example, based on data collected by the various sensors of the system, e.g., by measuring pressure applied onto the various supports via corresponding pressure sensors attached onto the supports. For example, a high pressure sensed by a pressure sensor may be translated to a corresponding support which the user is substantially leaning onto, whereas little or no pressure sensed by a pressure sensor may be translated to a corresponding support which the user is less to not leaning onto, thereby the controlling operation may comprise determining current postures of the user. The controlling operation may further comprise learning common or any postures of the user and recommending posture changes accordingly, thereby causing the user to strengthen core muscles and improve length and flexibility of muscles, ligaments and tendons of the user.

In some embodiments, the controlling operation may comprise controlling changes in sitting postures of the user based on a predefined protocol.

Optionally, the predefined protocol may comprise predefined repeating sequences of different changes in postures of the user.

In some embodiments, the controlling operation may comprise controlling changes in sitting postures of the user in a one-time manual control manner.

In some embodiments, the controlling operation may comprise controlling position of each support of the plurality of supports with respect to another support or with respect to the frame according to the physical dimensions of the user.

Optionally, the system may comprise system sensors for measuring forces and pressures applied on the user by the system or on the system by the user. In some embodiments, the controlling operation may comprise applying an algorithm for reporting and changing sitting postures of the user based on the forces and pressures measurements by the system sensors.

Optionally, the system may comprise physiological sensors for measuring physiological parameters of the user. In some embodiments, the controlling operation may comprise applying an algorithm for reporting and changing sitting postures of the user based on measurements of the physiological sensors.

Optionally, the movement of each support of the plurality of supports may be independent from movement of any other support.